Future farmer of America, August 15, 2026
Today I toured the orchard on the tractor with two of our grandchildren. Both enjoyed the experience though Westy and I went twice around and then moved a load of manure to the compost heaps. I think he was ready to spend all day on the Kubota. In a few years when he can reach the pedals, we’ll offer him a summer job. We’ll pay him the big bucks.
Speaking of big bucks, small farms in Maine are forever exploring new ways to generate income streams. There may be legitimate reasons why small farms are not profitable, although I haven’t heard any that make sense to me. All the farmers I know work incredibly hard, and none are getting rich doing so. Is it government policy that keeps the small farmer down? Maybe. Not part of today’s report. But farmers tend to be resourceful folk and new models are getting invented all the time. Where there’s a will…
In 2006 Cammy and I met a couple from Vermont who worked farmers’ markets and offered customers Sunday dinner on their farm long before the Farm-to-Table pop-up dinners became trendy. They cooked the food they raised on their farm. There was no marketing, no website and no charge for the dinner; diners simply donated what they wanted. The couple made more money from those weekly summer dinners than from the cheese and meat they were producing. The on-farm, farm-to-table experience has since become a popular thing in Maine. Today we went to one near Belfast. The grandkids loved it, the food was good and we all had a really nice evening. They even have some old apple trees and want me to come back and identify them. Maybe we’ll trade a few ID’s for a couple of pizzas.